


Like Home

by Xie



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-27 00:07:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1707569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xie/pseuds/Xie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A New Year's Eve snowstorm causes a massive power failure all over the East Coast while Justin's in Pittsburgh for the holidays. Written for the 2010 QAF Gift Exchange.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sakesushimaki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakesushimaki/gifts).



Brian angled the Corvette into a parking place between two snow mounds. "Why we had to leave the loft on a day like this..." he started.  
  
Justin pushed the door open as far as he could against the snow-covered curb. "You're repeating yourself. Isn't that a sign of advancing old age?"  
  
Brian frowned, then got out of the car, leaving Justin to wriggle his way out of the narrow opening on his side.  
  
Justin had to run a little to catch up with him. "Besides," he said, "we promised we'd be here."  
  
"You promised," Brian pointed out. "I seem to recall making some vague and non-committal remark..."  
  
"Your exact words were, 'I'll be there, Mikey. I promise. You can quit nagging me now.'"  
  
"Was I drunk?" Brian said. "Because I can't be held responsible for something I said when I was under the influence."  
  
Justin patted his shoulder. "Forgetfulness is also a sign of..."  
  
"Advancing old age. I know." Brian leered down at him. "Did I seem _decrepit_ this morning when I was pounding you against the shower wall?"  
  
Justin grinned and shook his head. "No, actually. Not at all."  
  
Brian nodded, satisfied. Then he sighed. "Of course, my dick will probably be the last thing to go."  
  
"Unquestionably."  
  
Justin shoved open the door to the diner, and the snow on his jacket started to melt in the heat of all the bodies, food, coffee and noise.   
  
"Yoo-hoo! Over here, boys!" It was Emmett, his face beaming as he waved from the booth in the back corner.   
  
"Fuck," Debbie said from behind the counter. "I bet Michael twenty bucks you wouldn't be able to drag your dick out of Justin's ass long enough to eat a meal."  
  
Brian dropped into the booth next to Michael, and planted a big kiss on his cheek. "Mikey knows I'm a man of my word."  
  
Michael snorted. "Mikey knows Justin's a man of your word," he said.  
  
Brian frowned and glanced down at the menu. "I'm sure the lad just wanted to give his poor tired ass a break."  
  
Justin smacked him on the arm. "'Tired ass'? That wasn't what you called it when..."  
  
Brian cut him off. "I'm sure these good people don't want to hear the intimate details of our private moments."  
  
"Oh, but we do," said Emmett. "I can't think of a more perfect New Year's Eve subject." He glanced at Ted. "Can you, Teddy?"  
  
Ted shrugged. "It's not like we haven't seen it all before."  
  
Brian stuck his tongue out at him. "Some things never get old. My dick, for one."  
  
Ted snorted. "As if everyone here hasn't already seen _that_ , too."  
  
Debbie walked up with the coffee pot. "Seen what?"  
  
"Brian's dick," Michael said. "And my mom's never seen it, for one."  
  
"Well," Debbie said. "There was that time at the loft when I..."  
  
"Jesus Christ, Ma," Michael said. Then he drove his elbow into Brian's side. "What the fuck were you doing showing my mother your dick?"  
  
"Giving her the thrill of her lifetime?" suggested Emmett.  
  
Debbie snapped her gum. "You definitely underestimate how thrilling my life's been if you think that."  
  
"Hey," Brian objected, rubbing his side where Michael had jabbed it. "She walked in on me. It's not like I flashed her in the diner."  
  
Debbie ignored him and ruffled her hand through Justin's hair. "Ready to order, Sunshine?"  
  
After she left, Michael lowered his voice. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me my mom had seen your dick?"  
  
Brian sighed. "I was trying to repress the memory. I may need years of therapy just to deal with this conversation."  
  
"Considering the thousands of people in this city -- in this _diner_ \-- who've seen your dick," Ted said, "I really can't imagine why anyone's surprised."  
  
"Not my _mother_ ," Michael said. "How would you like it if it was your mother?"  
  
Ted frowned. "I don't think that would be good for her high blood pressure."  
  
Justin sighed. "Well, just be glad of all our moms, it was Deb. My mom would probably have a heart attack."  
  
"Well..." Brian said, stirring sugar into his coffee and avoiding Justin's eyes. "Now that you mention it..."  
  
Justin stared at him. "No. Just... no. Don't tell me."  
  
"Okay," Brian agreed meekly.  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
He nodded. "I'm afraid she arrived at the loft door at an inopportune moment. Or an opportune one, depending on how you look at it."  
  
"How _did_ she look at it?" said Emmett. "Long and slow, or..."  
  
Justin glared at him. "This. Conversation. Is. Over."  
  
An awkward silence fell, relieved by Debbie bringing their food.  
  
After they'd all been served, Emmett smiled brightly. "So, Justin, when do you head back to New York?"  
  
"Day after New Year's," he said, pouring syrup on his pancakes. "My longest trip home in a year."  
  
Brian sighed. "Why I couldn't convince you to spend the holidays with me in the Bahamas, I'll never know."  
  
Justin bumped him with his shoulder. "Yes, you do."  
  
No one said anything, and Justin laughed.  
  
"What?" Michael said.  
  
He shook his head. "You were ready to talk all day about Brian's dick, but one glimpse of his soft side..."  
  
"Hey!" Brian said. "Watch your language."  
  
"Brian's _gentler_ side, and you've got nothing to say." Justin shoved a forkful of pancakes in his mouth. "Freaks."  
  
______________________  
  
Brian had excused himself before anyone else had finished eating. He was standing out on the sidewalk smoking when Justin pushed through the diner door, Ted, Emmett and Michael behind him.  
  
"Thanks for paying the bill, Brian," Ted said. "If we'd known, we could have eaten at Sunnyledge instead of the Liberty Diner."  
  
Brian threw his cigarette into the snow-filled gutter. "With what I pay you, Theodore, you can afford to eat at any five-star establishment in the Pitts."  
  
Emmett laughed, and Brian raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny, Honeycutt?"  
  
"Just thinking," he said, "about how I used to have to borrow money from Ted every other month to pay my bills..."  
  
"Every month," Ted interjected.  
  
"Okay, every month. And then Teddy was a singing waiter until Brian gave him a job, and Michael was working at the Big Q... and look at us now."  
  
"I'm still a starving artist," Justin said.  
  
Brian laughed and smacked him on the ass. "Yeah, emaciated and malnourished. How do you find the strength to pick up a paintbrush?"  
  
"Some people," Justin said to no one in particular, "are going to regret this conversation the next time they want their dick sucked."  
  
Brian rolled his eyes and pulled Justin against him. "Please. You'll be on your knees begging for it before you have your jacket off." He nuzzled into Justin's hair, and Justin tipped back his head and kissed him.  
  
"That's our cue," said Michael, laughing. "I have to meet Ben and Hunter, anyway."  
  
Brian pulled away from Justin's mouth just enough to say, "Buh-bye, Mikey." And then they kept kissing, even when the snow started to fall again.  
  
They had to leave the Corvette three blocks from the loft. "I'll never find it again," Brian said as the snow quickly covered his car.  
  
Justin tugged his hand. "Let's go. I'm freezing."  
  
They were covered in snow by the time they got back to the loft, and stripped everything off in the bathroom. When Brian came out of the bedroom, he saw Justin standing at the window.  
  
"I think this is the longest we've spent out of bed this visit," Brian said, coming up behind Justin and putting his hands on his shoulders. "What are you doing? You can't see anything out there except snow."  
  
Justin rested his hands on Brian's. "I know. It's beautiful, isn't it?"  
  
Brian nibbled his ear. "You artistes. Always seeing things that aren't there."  
  
Justin laughed, and closed his eyes while Brian turned him around.  
  
________________________  
  
Justin woke up, and the loft was dark. He grabbed his phone off the bedside table and checked the time. "Fuck." He shook Brian's shoulder. "Brian. It's after midnight. We missed the New Year."  
  
Brian opened one eye. "We didn't miss it. We fucked our way through it."  
  
Justin laughed. "True. But Babylon..."  
  
"Will survive without us." He sat up, and frowned. "Or won't. Is the power out? It's freezing. And dark."  
  
Justin was shoving his legs into his sweat pants. "I think so. Let me look out the window."  
  
Brian pulled on his own sweats and a sweater, and followed Justin into the other room. "I've never seen it like this. No way you're going to get out of here tomorrow."  
  
Justin laughed. "That's worth a little cold and dark."  
  
Brian pulled him against him. "And a lot of snow."  
  
It was three days before the airports opened. Brian and Justin stayed at the loft until their food ran out, by which time Mayor Deekins had gotten most of the streets clear enough for them to walk to Deb's, where, Brian assured Justin, there would be enough frozen lasagna and chocolate cake to keep body and soul together for a year.  
  
"Brian, Justin," said Carl when he opened the door. "Come on in. Can I get you anything to eat?"  
  
Brian stopped, looking around the crowded room. "Your lights are on. And it's warm."  
  
Debbie laughed from the kitchen, where she and Michael were standing in front of the stove, Ben and Hunter at the table. "Carl hooked up that old generator we had in the shed."  
  
Justin took off his jacket. "Wow, if we'd known, we'd have come over sooner."  
  
"We found ways to keep warm," Brian said, dropping his coat on the back of the sofa. "Although I admit, a diet of nothing but warm beer, leftover Thai food and semen was wearing thin."  
  
"Way to get botulism," said Hunter.   
  
Ben smacked him on the arm. "That's enough." He gave Brian and Justin a big smile. "We tried to call you..."  
  
Brian shook his head and sat down at the table next to Justin. "Our cell phones went out the first day."   
  
"The towers are down anyway," said Michael, putting plates of bacon and eggs in front of both of them.  
  
Debbie walked over with a pot of coffee. "Just like the diner, isn't it?" she said, filling their mugs.  
  
"Well," Brian said, adding sugar to his coffee from the bowl shaped like a cat's face, "I miss the years of crusted grease, and then there's the glory hole in the bathroom…"  
  
"Uh huh," Debbie said, then turned to Justin. "They say the power's out all up and down the East Coast. Even in New York."  
  
Justin nodded. "I know. My boss told me when I called, before my phone died." He laughed. "Although I'd be enjoying the time off a lot more if the heat, hot water and appliances were working."  
  
Brian left them listening to Carl's stories about looting downtown the last time there was a blackout, and went outside to have a cigarette. He amused himself trying to guess who'd follow him out. Probably not Justin, since he seemed to be enjoying having his jacket off for the first time in 24 hours. And probably not Debbie, who was deep in a pot of recently-thawed spaghetti sauce. Which left…  
  
"Mikey."  
  
"Hey," Michael said, pulling his coat tight around him. "What the fuck are you doing out here?"  
  
Brian lifted his cigarette. "Feeding my addiction."  
  
"One of your addictions," Michael corrected.  
  
Brian blew out a hot stream of smoke. "One of." He looked at Michael. "The question is, what are _you_ doing out here?"  
  
Michael grinned. "I was hoping you were out here with a joint."  
  
Brian laughed. "No. Justin and I ran out yesterday, and my dealer obviously hadn't made adequate disaster preparedness arrangements, a situation she'd better address or I'll take my business elsewhere."  
  
"Do you think…" Michael stopped as a bright light flashed on, then off, in the yard. "What the fuck… was that the streetlight?"  
  
The snowy yard lit up again, and this time it stayed on.   
  
Carl came out to turn off the generator. Brian and Michael went back inside, and Brian got Justin back into his jacket and out the door in record time.   
  
When they got home, the loft was warm and the refrigerator was humming. They took a shower, and Brian relaxed as the hot water streamed down his body, and Justin's mouth swirled and swallowed around his cock.  
  
But later that night, he found himself standing at the window, staring out at the lights and stars.  
  
"What's wrong?" Justin had come up behind him, and rested his forehead against Brian's back.  
  
Brian shook his head, and took a sip of his scotch. "Why must something be wrong just because I'm enjoying seeing beautiful Pittsburgh illuminated in all its glory once again?"  
  
Justin took his drink and set it on the liquor cart next to the window. "Because my ass was over there, and you were over here. And that's just wrong."   
  
Brian laughed as Justin kissed his shoulder, then followed him back to the bedroom.  
  
The skin on the insides of Justin's thighs was warm under Brian's fingers and mouth. Justin moaned when Brian slipped a wet finger inside him, and dug his heels into the bed. But Brian didn't fuck him, just kissed and licked his cock while Justin grabbed a fistful of his hair.  
  
When Justin came, he swallowed it all, then crawled up his body to kiss and nuzzle at his face.   
  
"I love you," Justin said, mouth against Brian's ear.  
  
Brian didn't say anything, just pulled Justin's hand to his aching cock.  
  
When Brian got out of the shower the next morning, Justin's duffel bag was on the bed, half-packed. He could hear Justin from the other room, talking on the phone.  
  
Brian sat down at the computer just as Justin hung up. "Want me to print out your boarding pass?"  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Brian paused. "Want me to print out one for me, too?"  
  
Justin didn't say anything, and Brian looked up. "What, did you promise to spend the week with your secret wife and children?"  
  
"No," he said, laughing as he walked over to the computer. "It's…"  
  
Brian raised an eyebrow. "What?"  
  
Justin leaned against the desk, looking down at Brian. "Do you know what I liked about this visit?"  
  
"It couldn't be the coldness, darkness and near-starvation, so I'm guessing it was the almost impossibly good sex?"  
  
Justin knelt down and put his hands on Brian's thighs. "That it didn't feel like a visit."  
  
Brian just looked at him, his lips folding in.  
  
"Brian…" Justin sat back on his heels. "It's been four years."  
  
"I can count."  
  
"What are we waiting for?"  
  
Brian was still looking at him, then quirked a smile. "You're down on your knees. Are you proposing?"  
  
Justin smiled. "Yes."  
  
"I asked you – twice, in fact – already, so obviously my answer is yes." He brushed Justin's hair back with his hand. "But that’s not really the question, is it?"  
  
Justin shook his head. "There isn't any question. I made up my mind as soon as the power came back on, and I realized I wished it hadn't."  
  
"If you're expecting an argument," Brian said, opening his legs and pulling Justin between them, "you're doomed to be tragically disappointed." And he bent down and kissed him.  
  
A few minutes later, he broke the kiss. "Although I'm assuming you don't have any actual objections to hot water, electricity and heat?"  
  
Justin laughed and stood up, holding his hand out to Brian. "None at all. Although I know a better way to keep warm."  
  
Brian stood up and started heading for the bedroom, but Justin stopped him with a tug on his hand. "That's not what I meant."  
  
"Then what…"  
  
Justin grabbed Brian's jacket off the back of the desk chair, and tossed it to him. "There's a pile of snow out there somewhere, with your car under it."  
  
Brian let the jacket drop to the floor, and yanked Justin against him. "After."  
  
Justin put his hands on both sides of Brian's face. "Don't tell me you love me more than you love the Corvette?"  
  
Brian smiled down at him, and nodded. "I do," he said.


End file.
